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BJA Advance Access originally published online on May 12, 2006
British Journal of Anaesthesia 2006 97(1):26-38; doi:10.1093/bja/ael110
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© The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia 2006. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Monitoring the injured brain: ICP and CBF

L. A. Steiner1,* and P. J. D. Andrews2

1 Surgical Intensive Care Unit, Department of Anaesthesia, University Hospital Basel CH-4031 Basel, Switzerland
2 Department of Anaesthetics, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine, University of Edinburgh and Western General Hospital Crewe Road, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, Scotland, UK

*Corresponding author. E-mail: lsteiner{at}uhbs.ch

Raised intracranial pressure (ICP) and low cerebral blood flow (CBF) are associated with ischaemia and poor outcome after brain injury. Therefore, many management protocols target these parameters. This overview summarizes the technical aspects of ICP and CBF monitoring, and their role in the clinical management of brain-injured patients. Furthermore, some applications of these methods in current research are highlighted. ICP is typically measured using probes that are inserted into one of the lateral ventricles or the brain parenchyma. Therapeutic measures used to control ICP have relevant side-effects and continuous monitoring is essential to guide such therapies. ICP is also required to calculate cerebral perfusion pressure which is one of the most important therapeutic targets in brain-injured patients. Several bedside CBF monitoring devices are available. However, most do not measure CBF but rather a parameter that is thought to be proportional to CBF. Frequently used methods include transcranial Doppler which measures blood flow velocity and may be helpful for the diagnosis and monitoring of cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid haemorrhage or jugular bulb oximetry which gives information on adequacy of CBF in relation to the metabolic demand of the brain. However, there is no clear evidence that incorporating data from CBF monitors into our management strategies improves outcome in brain-injured patients.


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